Comics Retailers Survey

Early 2014 Sales, a Mixed Bag

Sales reports released in February by Diamond indicate that sales
of periodical comics were nearly flat and that graphic novel sales
had taken a dive of almost 15% compared to January 2013. But
while the stats sounded alarms bells across the Internet on comics industry blogs and news sites, the retailers Publishers Weekly
spoke to offered mixed sales reports for early 2014, pointing to
a more complicated picture of the marketplace.

Asked to compare sales so far this year to the same period in

2013, Brave New World, The Se-cret Headquarters, Bergen Street,The Beguiling and The Strand re-port sales are up. Sales at MissionComics, Earth- 2, and ForbiddenPlanet were said to be flat, andChallenger Comics, Phantom ofthe Attic, and Quimbys report thatsales were down. Three retailersreported that sales were down,while another reported making ad-justments in ordering and thatsales were essentially flat. All fourreported that the inclement weath-er in much of the country this winter was the biggest contribu-tor to lower sales and ordering. Liz Mason of Quimby’s Booksperhaps sums it up best: “Winter is already bad for sales afterthe holidays, but there are days we’ve closed early because of badconditions.”The other seven retailers we spoke to reported that sales wereeither on par with last year’s or up—and in a couple instances,dramatically so. “My January was double digits better than thesame time last year,” says Portlyn Freeman, owner of Brave NewWorld, adding that she believes reports on declines were “at thedistributor level.” Diamond Comics sales figures report whole-sale buys by stores, not sell-through to consumers.

While reporting that sales at his store, Earth- 2, have “been
quieter” than last year’s but “okay”, storeowner, Carr D’Angelo,
echoes Freeman’s observation that declines were not sell-through
numbers. Dave Pifer, co-owner of Secret Headquarters, says that
compared to last year, his sales are “up a little.” He speculates
that “if [stores are] heavy sellers of Marvel, DC, the numbers
are down,” and there is some evidence to support the notion that
stores that order a lot of Marvel and DC did not get off to a great
start this year. In fact, one retailer we spoke with is considering
shaving 10% off of its Marvel and DC bottom list orders in an
effort to marginally improve profitability. Carson Moss of the
Strand notes that at his store “sales are even more lopsided in
favor of the non-Big Two,” publishers, indicating that, with the
exception of perennial backlist bestsellers like Watchman, Alan
Moore’s classic superhero epic, comics from other nonsuperhero
publishers are finding more of an audience at general bookstores
like the Strand.

Other retailers are equally unimpressed with the sales oncertain DC and Marvel series, citing editorial decisions, confus-ing numbering of the issues, and a glut of titles. Wayne Wiseof Phantom of the Attic says, “The new trend at Marvel of re-launching titles with a new #1 issue every time the creative teamchanges isn’t really working at our store. Marvel has also embla-zoned #1 across the top of titles that aren’t actually #1 issues,but simply the first issue of a new story arc. People aren’t fooledby this misdirection.”W. Dal Bush had similar comments about DC superherocomics sales at Challengers Comics and Conversation, noting,“Very few launches create any enthusiasm, and most titles areshedding readers monthly.” Bush pointed to Scott Snyder’sBatman, as well as works by writer Jeff Lemire and CharlesSoule, calling them some “of the few bright spots creatively. Idon’t know if we’d be stocking most DC superhero comics.”Portlyn Freeman agrees. She says, “What I’m not selling asmuch of is the sort of glut of New 52 and Marvel trade books...my readers just can’t support that many titles in trade book[format].”

Rethinking the ‘Big Two’ Paradigm
In spite of the weather and a shorter holiday shopping season
than normal, most of the retailers Publishers Weekly queried had
a strong holiday sales season that met their store’s norms, but
was unremarkable overall. In a sentiment shared by many other
retailers, Dave Pifer says, “It was a big problem for me that there
was not a standout book.” While a few books came up as solid
holiday sellers across a significant but disparate proportion of